P-75 Advanced Cancer Patients’ Endorsement of Constipation as a Distressing Symptom A. Abernethy1, Y. Podnos2, S. Rosenbloom3, D. Cella3 1Duke University Medical Center, Medicine - Oncology, Durham, United States of America 2Duke University Medical Center, Surgery, Durham, United States of America 3Northwestern University, Center on Outcomes, Research and Education, Chicago, United States of America Background: Symptom burden in advanced cancer is a substantial source of distress. How commonly is constipation endorsed as a high priority symptom by patients? Methods: As a part of a study aimed to identify patients’ highest priority symptoms for 11 advanced cancers and construct brief symptom indices based on their combined input, 534 patients with advanced bladder, brain, breast, colorectal, head/neck, hepatobiliary/pancreatic, kidney, lung, lymphoma, ovarian or prostate cancer from a subset of National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) member institutions and 4 organizations in the Cancer Health Alliance of Metropolitan Chicago completed surveys of priority symptoms and concerns. Constipation was included on the disease-specific symptom index if it was considered to be a potentially bothersome symptom for that particular cancer based upon patient and physician reports of the importance of the symptom during scale development. Constipation was included on the disease specific surveys for colorectal, hepatobiliary, prostate, and ovarian cancer. During the study of the 11 scales, patients also had the opportunity to nominate “write-in” symptoms that did not appear on the disease-specific lists. Summaries of constipation-related reports are presented here. Symptoms endorsed more often than chance probability were retained. Only reports of “constipation” and “trouble moving bowels” were considered, as it was unclear whether “trouble controlling bowels” referred to diarrhea or constipation. Results: Among ovarian cancer patients (n=50), 38% ranked it in the top 10 most troubling symptoms. Among colorectal cancer patients (n=50), 36% ranked it in the top 10; prostate cancer (n=50), 24% ranked it in the top 10; hepatobiliary patients (n=50), 12% ranked it in the top 10. Across the 7 other cancers, patients spontaneously wrote-in constipation as a bothersome symptom [disease, % nominating constipation, mean score on a 0–10 Likert scale]: bladder, 13%, 7/10; lung cancer, 12%, 7.3/10; brain, 10%, 4.8/10; head & neck, 10%, 9.8/10; breast, 7%, 6/10; kidney, 2%, 8/10; and, lymphoma, 3%, 10/10. Conclusions: Constipation was ranked among the top 10 symptoms by approximately one in four people with ovarian, colorectal, and prostate cancer. Among 7 cancer sites where constipation was not directly included in the survey, constipation was still frequently identified as a significant source of distress, especially in bladder, lung, brain and head and neck cancers. MASCC, 2007 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.